Standing Divided
by BrokenMemory
Summary: Five years after the Grand Magic games, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Happy, and new team member Rei run into surprise visitors to Fairy Tail. A Team from Sabertooth is waiting at Fairy Tails entrance, and part of that team is Lucy! She comes bearing news of a Dark Guild uprising, and even more surprising, an aliance request from the ever-proud Matser Jiemma. How is this gonna work out?
1. Reunion

**For the newer readers, this story is based after the Grand Magic Games, but... it's after _my_ Grand Magic Games, because when I started this story the Grand Magic Games arc was just starting. So, basically, Sabertooth won, Fairy Tail was second, and gained their respect back. Lucy left to get stronger, and all the messed up but really cool shit from the point Minerva kicked Lucy's ass on didn't happen. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

_Italics are flash backs._

A now twenty-two year old Natsu smiled widely. He looped one arm around Gray's neck, and one around Rei's. "That was great!" he shouted, causing several people walking down the street to look over irritably.

"Keep it down, Flame Brain, people are staring." Gray grumbled.

"What was that, you-"Natsu started. His sentence, however, was cut off when Erza hit both him and Gray over the head with the hilt of her sword.

Rei shifted away nervously. Gray grinned towards the newest Fairy Tail member. The brunette, blue eyed Earth Mage had just recently joined the guild, but had become immediate friends with Gray, and by extension, Natsu, Erza, and Happy as well.

"Well that was fun, huh?" Gray said. "How was that for your first Fairy Tail mission?"

"It was… pretty fun." Rei said quietly.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you!" Natsu shouted.

"I said it was fun!" Rei shouted back. Natsu stared at him for a moment, and then broke into a toothy grin.

"Yeah!" He agreed loudly. Erza hit Natsu over the head again.

"Quiet Natsu, you're disturbing the peace."

"Aye!" Happy smirked, flying higher when Natsu swatted at him.

As they neared the Fairy Tail building, they noticed a big crowd outside. Frowning, they moved closer. Three people, plus two Exceed, stood in front of them, with nearly every Fairy Tail member crowding around the doorway to the building. Two men stood, arms crossed, a bit behind the third person.

As Natsu and the others joined their Nakama, they realized who this third person was, and why their guild was so quiet. The last person was a girl. She stood slightly in front of the two men and their Exceed. She was wearing a dark purple skirt, ripped black leggings, leather boots, and a black leather vest. Her long blonde hair reached to the middle of her back, even while pulled up in a thick ponytail. She also had piercing brown eyes and a sly smile that pierced the hearts of every Fairy Tail member that has been in the guild for more than at least five years.

As she watched the slow recognition dawn on their faces, the young woman smirked and licked her strawberry sucker.

She was Sabertooth's strongest member. She was Jiemma's favorite. She was practically the daughter of her guild leader. She was-

"Lucy Heartfilia."

Natsu's POV

The second Laxus spoke her name, chaos broke out. Levy burst into tears, turning to hug Jet and Droy, who also started crying. Elfman wrapped his arms around Lisanna. Team Natsu, now consisting of Erza, Gray, Natsu, Happy, and Rei, all wore emotionless masks.

Rei had never met Lucy, he was eighteen now, and had only been in the guild a few days, but he'd heard the stories of the strongest Celestial Spirit Mage. When he came to Fairy Tail, he was shocked to learn she wasn't there.

"_Um_,_Gray? Where is Lucy Heartfilia? Is she not part of your group? The magazine said..." Rei asked quietly. Only the people at that table heard her question. Erza threw her strawberry cake at the wall angrily, Natsu pushed off the table and stormed out, and Grays face hardened._

"_Lucy… left. It's a sensitive subject, so don't bring it up around anyone but me, okay?"_

_Rei nodded, and slid his gaze over to Erza, who hadn't moved since she's thrown her cake. Rei could see the pain in her eyes, as well as the tears that the Titania wouldn't allow to fall. He turned to look at the debris left after Natsu had stormed out. The door was loose from the top hinge, the floor was smoking, and flames lapped at the windows. Mira sighed and extinguished the fire. Elfman picked the door up and fixed it back into place, all the while going on about how handy it was to have a good man around in times of crisis._

Now, looking at the Lucy of Sabertooth, Rei wished he had sucked it up long enough to ask Gray why Lucy left.

Licking her sucker again, Lucy smiled slyly. "Yo."


	2. Alliance

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail!**

Lucy yawned widely. "Boy am I tired. The journey from Sabertooth to here is so _long_. I need a nap!" She turned and smiled back to her companions. "How 'bout you guys?"

Sting Eucliffe smirked. "Sure. But only if you we share the bed."

Frowning, Lucy snapped her whip. She yanked it back after it wrapped around his legs. He crashed to the ground with a curse. Lucy turned to Rogue, who just shrugged and held back a smirk as Sting picked himself up.

Groaning, Lucy turned back towards Fairy Tail, who hadn't moved since she'd greeted them. "We were sent here by Master Jiemma to suggest a temporary alliance." She turned to Makarov, "Can we speak inside?"

Makarov eyed them suspiciously for a moment, and then tilted his head towards the guild. Grinning, Lucy and her companions followed him inside. Lucy sat down at a table in the middle of the room with Sting, Rogue, Frosch, and Lector following hesitantly.

Folding her legs under her, Lucy smiled at Makarov. "It's nice to see you again, Master."

Makarov blinked. "Lucy, what do you need to talk to me about?"

Lucy sighed and leaned back, crossing her legs. "So it's like that, huh? Fine. I'll get straight to the point then." She leaned forward and laced her fingers together. "My Master requests a temporary alliance with Fairy Tail."

"An alliance with us? Why?" Makarov questioned.

Rogue pulled a stack of papers out of his bag and slid them across the table to Makarov. "These people have all suddenly quit their guilds." He said.

Makarov looked over the papers, examining the names and faces on the first page. "So a lot of people have quit. How does that require an alliance?"

"Raven Tail has disbanded. We didn't think anything of it, until a guild member of ours returned from a mission claiming that she'd seen quite a few Raven Tail members attacking a village neighboring the one she had been in." Sting explained. "According to her, these people had a new guild stamp. Among these former Raven Tail members was one of our own, who had left about a week before. He also had the new stamp."

Lucy took the papers back and flipped to the third page. "Cana was there too, Master. I wasn't aware she had quit."

Makarov sighed sadly. "Cana quit three weeks ago. She wouldn't give me a reason, but she seemed determined. You're saying Cana has this new guild mark too?"

Lucy nodded. "I've counted them up, Master. There are people from every guild. Starting about a month ago, they all quit without a reason. Now they've been seen with a new guild mark, doing illegal things. It doesn't add up. Why would all these people quit their guilds to go and join a Dark Guild? Cana isn't that kind of person, I know. Or, rather, she wasn't." Lucy trailed off.

"But why an alliance?" Makarov asked again.

"Because," Sting said, "this guild has more members than any other Dark Guild ever! If they keep recruiting, who knows what will happen. Why would one guild need so many members? What are they planning? We need to be prepared for a war, because that's what's happening."

Makarov frowned for a moment, and then motioned the members of Fairy Tail over, who had been trying not to intrude in their conversation. At Makarov's gesture, though, they all ran over. "How would you feel about forming an alliance with Sabertooth? These young people here claim that a war is coming, and that it would be best to prepare. I won't accept their offer if you're against it."

Lucy licked her sucker. Noticing her hesitance to talk, Sting stood up. "Look, I know Sabertooth and Fairy Tail don't get along. Actually, saying we don't get along is the understatement of all understatements. But we need to do this. You guys know Master Jiemma; you guys know how much he insists that Sabertooth is the best. Master Jiemma sent us here to ask for your help. That should say something! We need this alliance, because something greater than both Sabertooth and Fairy Tail is coming. How can we make this alone if there isn't even a clear shot at winning together?"

Still, Fairy Tail remained silent. Lucy sighed. "Okay, guys, I really need you to listen to this. I left. I'm sorry, but I saw a chance to get stronger and I took it. I've gotten stronger, too. But in order to get stronger, I betrayed you. You treated me as your family and I walked out. But I've never lied to you, any of you, ever, even now. I haven't lied, I haven't cheated. I never will, because no matter whose guild I'm in, you all were my first family. And now I need you to listen to me, because if you don't we all die. No if's, we just die. Now, if you really don't want anything to do with us, we'll leave. So, how is this going to go? Am I going to leave twice?"

Still nobody said anything. Lucy waited for a minute, and all she got were stares. She sighed. "Okay, I understand. Let's go Rogue, Sting. We need to leave."

On the way out, Rogue bumped against Lucy's shoulder. "Everything fine?" He asked, not looking over.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah," she sighed, "I guess I was just hoping they'd forgive me."

Rogue nodded. Lucy stopped and turned to face Fairy Tail. "We can't help you now," she said it to them all, but her gaze was fixed on her old team. "I can't help you now. Stay strong, fight hard, and show the world that my Nakama don't die easily."

With that, Lucy walked out, Sting following with the two Exceed. Rogue stayed behind. "Try not to hate Lucy forever. "He said. "She still cares for you, and she doesn't deserve to be hated." He followed the others out the door.

Erza POV

"No alliance with Sabertooth, then." Master sighed.

I looked over at him. "You sound disappointed, Master."

"Not at all! It's just… Lucy. I haven't seen her in so long, and you know how I am, every one of you are my children. That child did what she thought she needed to do, and will regret leaving her whole life, no matter how many times she says she doesn't. She misses her family, but doesn't dare come back. Lucy was not cared for by her father, so she came here. She left here because she wanted to be stronger, and now that she is, she wants to return to the people who care for her, and we push her away."

"I understand, Master." I told him. I do understand, too. I miss Lucy with everything in me. I wish she would come back, because we all miss her. I remember the day she left. It burns in my mind, a searing pain that is always present, and too painful to ignore.

_Our mission was to take out a dark guild. They weren't strong members, but they were plentiful. Natsu, Gray, and I had fought and fought, and now we're all lying in a useless pile on the ground. We're too exhausted to move. Lucy is standing before us, unscathed, because we had refused to let her fight. Lucy is strong, but we are stronger in our own ways. And we cannot bear to see her get hurt, so we pushed her out of the way, refusing to let her fight. But now… now we have no energy to hold her back, and she knows it._

_Lucy called on the Archer, Sagittarius. I faintly heard her order him to keep them away from her while staying behind. If I wasn't so tired, I would've noticed how good a plan that was. If she's going to use that spell, she'll need someone with a long ranged weapon to keep them away from her as she casts._

"_Measure the Heavens, Open them Wide, All the Stars of Heaven, Overflowing with Light, Make Thyself Known to Me, O Tetrabiblos… For I hold dominion over the Stars. Complete thy Aspect, Release My Malevolent Gate, 88 Stars of All the Heavens."_

"_No!" Natsu groaned._

_Lucy's eyes opened, and they glowed with golden light. "Shine."_

"_Lucy!" Natsu pushed himself in front of her._

"_Urano- Natsu!" Lucy split the spell just before it hit Natsu. It skipped right over Natsu and went on to wipe out the rest of the Dark Guild. The power of the spell that had been split rebounded on Lucy, and the impact hit her in the chest. She fell, with her teammates scrambling over to her. Lucy was doubled over with her forehead touching the ground, gasping for breath._

"_Natsu! What are you doing? Are you trying to die?" Lucy scolded._

"_That spell is strong!" Natsu argued. "You could've gotten hurt!"_

"_I _did _get hurt, Natsu! I would've been fine if you hadn't interfered!"_

"_But-"_

"_No, Natsu!" Lucy yelled. "I'm tired of you treating me like a kid! How am I supposed to get stronger if you don't let me do anything?"_

"_Lucy…"I said._

"_No!" Lucy interrupted. "I'm tired of it, Erza! I'm tired of being treated like I'm useless. The second we get back, I'm leaving Fairy Tail."_

"_Lucy!" By this point I was panicking.  
_

"_That's enough! I'm leaving, and that's the end of it."_

"Erza?" Masters voice brought me back to the present. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing. It's nothing, Master, please don't worry about it."

It was our fault Lucy left, not hers. She doesn't deserve to be hated when she didn't do anything wrong.

"Master! I've changed my mind! I want an alliance with Sabertooth!" I told him.

The guild was silent, but when I turned around, I saw relief on everyone's faces. I knew then that it was as I'd suspected. They wanted to be with Lucy, even if it meant being in an alliance with Sabertooth. They just didn't want to be the ones to say it first.

Master sighed. He was relieved too, though. I could tell. "Very well, then. Somebody better go find our Sabertooth friends before they leave."


	3. Assassination

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

Lucy walked along the wall like she had every day on her way home. Sting kept putting his hands up and down, unsure what he should do.

"Leave her alone, Sting." Rogue muttered next to him.

"But what if she falls?" Sting hissed.

Rogue chuckled. "I honestly can't see Lucy falling from something like that. When we went on that mission in the mountains last week, you fell more than she did, and you're a Third Generation Dragon Slayer."

"Fine!" Sting huffed. "But when she falls in, I'm not diving in after her. She can die of hypothermia alone. I don't plan on joining her."

"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch agreed.

"Oh, please." Lecter scoffed. "Like someone from our guild could die from something as puny as hypothermia!"

Lucy giggled. "It's so cute that you think I can't hear you. You guys are so silly."

"Who's silly?" Sting shouted. He jumped up and stood before her on the ledge. She frowned up at him. "I'm not silly! How dare you say something like tha-"

Lucy pushed him to the side, and he fell into the water.

"Sting!" Lecter cried.

Lucy laughed as a winged Lecter pulled Sting out of the water. She jumped down and on walked with Rogue and Frosch.

"He's going to get you for that." Rogue told her. Lucy frowned.

"Lucy!" Sting called.

"Crap!" Lucy grabbed Rogues arm and ran down the street, dragging the Dragon Slayer and his exceed behind her. Lucy laughed, Rogue chuckled. Frosch yelled "Yaaay!" at the top of his lungs. (At this point, I'm assuming Frosch is a boy).

Sting chased after them as Lucy took them through random streets and alleys that she once knew like the back of her hand. After about ten minutes of running around and laughing like idiots, Rogue, Lucy, and Frosch stopped. They hadn't seen Sting or Lecter for about five minutes now.

Lucy giggled. "I think we lost him. Ha to Sting!"

"Were going to have to find them eventually, you know." Rogue told her. "They're on our team."

"Not necessarily." Lucy argued. "We could leave now, and there could be an unfortunate train crash on the way back in which Sting and Lecter mysteriously disappear. I better practice my sad face." Lucy frowned and thought of sad things. Fake tears sprang up in her eyes, and she sobbed. Then the wiped her eyes and looked at Rogue, who was watching her with interest.

"Good?" She asked. He nodded.

"Damn, Lucy. You're all but planning my funeral!" Sting argued as he stepped into the alley they'd stopped in.

Lucy laughed. Sting grinned. "But, you know, I still haven't forgiven you. Look at me! I'm still wet, and I've been chasing you around Magnolia for ten minutes!"

"Most of it's probably sweat." Lucy said with a sigh and a shrug. "You're not in the best shape."

"Frosch thinks so too!" Frosch yelled. Rogue laughed.

Sting ran after Lucy, catching her around the waist and swinging her around.

"Kyaa!" she screamed as he spun faster and faster. "Rogue! Help me!" she laughed.

Rogue caught her wrist, but Stings momentum kept them going. Rogue dug his heels into the ground, but he was still swung around in circles. "We're making a rut in the ground!" He laughed. "Sting, cut it out!"

He did, releasing Lucy and nearly throwing her into the wall. Luckily, Rogue still had a hold on her wrist and pulled her towards him before she hit.

Lucy fell on top of Rogue, knocking them both over.

"Nice catch. Thanks." Lucy muttered, getting up. She lashed out at Sting with her whip, but he dodged it, still laughing.

"You all look comfy." A voice called from behind them.

They recognized the voice before they turned around. Rogue's smile dropped off his face, returning him to the stoic being he is around everyone but his team. Sting crossed his arms and frowned. Luc smiled carefully at Team Natsu.

"Hello Erza. Hey Gray, Natsu, Happy." She stopped when she saw Rei. "Sorry, I don't know your name." She told him.

"That's Rei." Erza introduced. "He's an earth mage."

"That's nice." Lucy smiled. "Ah, how long have you been standing there?"

"Are we invited to the funeral?" Gray asked her happily.

Rogue chuckled, earning an elbow to the stomach from Sting. "Can we ask why you're here?" Sting questioned.

"Master had decided to accept your offer. Fairy Tail would like to join in an alliance with Sabertooth." Erza told them.

Lucy smiled softly. "That's good. I was really hoping you'd accept."

"What's with you?" Sting muttered. "You talk to them like you're in love or something."

Lucy's eye narrowed. She spun and threw all fourteen of her keys at him. They embedded themselves on the wall next to his head, seven on each side.

Stings eyes widened as he looked over at Rogue, who had moved silently out of the way the second Sting had opened his mouth. "Did you see that? Did you see what she tried to do to me?"

"You were asking for it." Rogue told him emotionlessly.

"She could have killed me! Thank God she missed!"

Smirking, Lucy held out her hand. The keys came back to her as she summoned. "Stupid Sting. I don't miss. You're alive because I let you live."

"Wh- wha-" Sting stammered.

"She's right." Rogue confirmed, nodding. "You're lucky she spared you."

"I'm really a saint, ya know?" Lucy said to Rogue.

Rogue laughed. As did Team Natsu, who knew very well how saint-like Lucy could be.

"So we're comrades now, huh?" Lucy asked them.

"Yup! Lucy's family again!" Happy yelled.

Lucy's eyes widened as Natsu swatted at Happy. "I wouldn't go that far." Lucy said softly.

Rogue bumped her shoulder. "You'll get there." He said. "Lucy isn't someone you can stay mad at. They only made it this far because you haven't been around. Now that we have to work together, they'll get over it."

"I hope you're right." Lucy sighed.

Hotel No Name (yup, I'm that lazy)

Lucy came back from that bath, combing out her hair with her fingers. Lecter and Frosch were already asleep in the corner of the room. Lucy crashed down on her futon between Rogue and Sting. "Your exceed are so cute." She sighed. "I almost wish I had one of my own."

"Why just 'almost'?" Sting asked.

"They're kinda annoying." Lucy stated with a grimace.

"Annoying?" Sting laughed. "Remember what I said earlier about 'understatements'?"(chapter 2)

Lucy laughed, and then yawned.

Sting laughed again. "Go to sleep already, stupid. My Exceed will be there for you to pick on in the morning."

"I… not stupid… you stupid…"

"Whatever." Sting said, turning over. Rogue rolled his eyes and went to sleep as well.

About 3 A.M. 

Lucy's eyes sapped open. There was a scuttling sound from the other side of the room. All of their weapons were across the room. Lucy's keys and whip, Rogues katana, it was all over one the other side of the damned room. Lucy must have cursed every word she knew at least five times.

Keeping her breathing even, Lucy closed her eyes and felt for her friends' presence. Everything was as it should be. The Exceed were in the corner where they'd went to sleep. Lucy could feel Rogue's presence next to her. She didn't even have to search for Stings, because his arm was draped across her stomach.

She heard the scuttling sound again. She felt for another presence. She found one. It felt like a man of about forty, average build, but very agile. He was headed straight for her. The lights were off, so Lucy was blind. She felt rather than saw him raise his arm.

Lucy rolled backwards as his arm swung down. There was the sound of metal slicing through the wood floor. Rogue and Sting were awake instantly. They each grabbed one of her arms and dragged her out of the way as another knife was swung towards her face.

They let go, but stuck close. In these situations, keeping everything straight is not easy. If they separate, they won't know who's a teammate and who's an enemy.

The man swung a knife again. Lucy grabbed her partners' shoulders and kicked at the man, knocking the knife out of his hand. She knew he still had one other, maybe more, but she was getting tired of an invisible man trying to slice her up.

Lucy kept her hands on their shoulders and pulled them back to the wall silently. She didn't want him sneaking up behind her. Lucy heard a ripping sound through the air, and then a pain in her thigh. She dropped her hand from Stings shoulder to the deep gash in her leg. "Tch. Who are you?" She asked the man.

"I was hired to kill you."

"To kill me?" Lucy asked, taken aback.

"Not simply you, stupid girl. I was hired to kill the team from Sabertooth."

"Stupid?" Lucy muttered.

"Why would someone want us dead?" Rogue asked the assassin.

"I did not ask. I do not care. I care for profit. I care for money. I do not care for reason."

Lucy followed his voice until she was sure she was looking right at him. Then she yanked the knife that had hit her leg out of the wall. She tapped Sting with it and moved his hand so that he was pointing right at the man. She slid the knife into his hand.

She heard the ripping sound again. Rogue pushed her to the side, and the knife stabbed her shoulder instead of her heart.

The assassin cursed. "I keep hitting the girl. Stop moving!"

"Lucy?" Rogue asked.

"I'm fine." Lucy reassured him. She pulled the knife from her shoulder and handed it to him.

The last knife didn't make noise. It ripped through the air, and then it ripped through her stomach. This wasn't an ordinary throwing knife. This one was different. It was longer. It went in her stomach and came out her back, and then on into the wall behind her.

Lucy grabbed Rogues wrist and Stings elbow, and then stepped forward. They walked towards the man slowly, with the second step reaching the end of the knife. She stepped forward again, until the end of the weapon came out through her back. She breathed deeply and smiled.

"Wha- what are you?" the man stammered.

"We are Sabertooth." Lucy said. She pushed her partners forward. The moved towards the man silently, while Lucy took slow steps forward, making sure the floor creaked under her. The man stayed focused on her, as planned.

"If you tell me who hired you, you might not die." Lucy told him, with a voice that was slow and calm. Her head tilted to the side, an evil grin spreading across her face. In the dark, she smiled and she _knew_ that he could see it. She knew by the way his breathing sped up. The man held his breath. He drew another knife. Lucy heard the metallic _cling_, and he pounced forward towards Lucy, who stopped and waited for the impact.

It didn't come. Rogue and Sting got there first, slicing the weapon out of his hand, as well as the belt where he had been storing the rest. He dropped to his knees, with two knives, covered in Lucy's blood, pressed to his throat.

He gulped. "You guys… you aren't human. You are monsters!"

"Inhuman?" Lucy asked innocently, squatting down in front of him. She was so close now that she could see him. He was nothing special. Mid-forties. She pouted. "You're so mean to me. I'm human. It's true. I'm born, I live, and I die. Those are the bounds of human." She nodded to her partners. "They aren't human though." She leaned over until her lips were at his ear. "They're _Dragon Slayers_. Third Generation. And they killed their dragons. They're _True Dragon Slayers_. They're _special_." She whispered.

Lucy grabbed a knife out of the man's fallen belt, and held it under his chin, tilting his face up. "Now," she said softly, "can't you tell me who hired you?"

"I- I don't know! I'm sorry!"

She stabbed the knife up. "Shut up. Did this person have a guild mark?"

"Yes! There were two!"

"Two?" Lucy asked with suspicion.

"Yeah! One I've never seen before! And the other… I've seen it a lot, but I don't know what guild it belongs to!"

"Did it look like this?" Lucy asked, pulling the collar of her shirt down, revealing her guild mark.

"No. It looks like this!" he said nervously, drawing a shape in the air.

Lucy froze. She stabbed the knife up until it drew blood. "Are you sure?" She hissed.

"Yes!"

Angrily, she shoved him away.

"Lucy? What is it?" Sting asked. Lucy realized that they still couldn't see. She was so close that she could slightly make it out, but Sting and Rogue were blind.

"It's Fairy Tail. The second mark is Fairy Tail."

There was silence. Lucy didn't have to see their faces to know they were trying to work it out.

Lucy stood up. "We'll worry about it later. We need to take care of him right now."

She pushed to her feet, and then tilted his head up with her foot. He looked at her. She smiled at him. "You disappointed me. You were so strong at the beginning. So cool and collected. Now look at you. You're practically crying."

"I have kids!" He yelled after her as she left the room.

Lucy paused at the doorway. "So what? If you go back to them, what will you do? You kill for a living. If you lose your temper, you could hurt them."

"I couldn't! I love my children!" He insisted.

"But wouldn't they be better off without a father that has enemies. Don't tell me you haven't realized it yet. Say you killed a girl, about my age. What if this girl had a brother? This guy may want revenge. Now, if he was smart, he wouldn't kill you. He would hurt you the way you hurt him. By taking away someone important. By taking away your kids."

She stepped out of the room.

Rogue tied the man's hands behind his back. "Take care of this." He stopped at the door, and then turned to look towards the corner of the room. He rolled his eyes and left.

Rogue found Lucy outside, sitting on the rocks outside the bath area. He sat next to her.

"You're hurt." He said.

"Yeah." It wasn't a question, but she answered anyway.

"We should take care of it." He didn't look at her.

"Later, okay? I just… need a minute."

"Fine… you know, you can be really scary sometimes. What was all that in there?"

She looked at me. "That was me scaring the crap out of a grown man."

"It was entertaining." He complimented.

"Thanks." She said. He knew something was wrong. He also knew that if he tried to talk to her about it, she would render biologically unable to maintain life. So he said something else. "Hey, when I left the room a minute ago, I noticed something."

"What?" Lucy asked, turning to him.

He smirked. "Those _damned_ _cats_ slept through that _whole damn thing."_

Lucy looked at him for a second, and a small smile played at her lips. And then Rogue chuckled, and Lucy giggled, and then both of them were laughing like idiots. They sat there and laughed until the sun came up and Sting stared at them like they were crazy.


	4. Suspicion

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

"You know, Lucy, I think this is the most non-revealing clothing I've ever seen you wear." Sting teased her.

Lucy ignored him and pulled on her knee length leather boots. It wasn't that she had lots of clothes on; it was just all the bandages she had on that covered up her skin. She had on a dark purple sleeveless top that stopped mid-stomach and black shorts. But, because of last night's assassination attempt, she had bandages wrapped around her stomach, shoulder, and her left thigh. So, yeah, it's probably the most she's worn since she left Heartfilia manor twelve years ago.

"Be careful, Sting." Rogue said as he fastened his katana to his belt. He walked over and stood next to Lucy. "You almost sound disappointed."

"Maybe I am." Sting said smugly.

Eyes narrowing, Rogue rested his hand on the swords hilt. "You better be kidding."

Sting just laughed and pulled on a shirt. Lucy rolled her eyes and leaned over to bump Rogue with her shoulder. Then she hissed.

Rogue smirked at her. "You forgot already?"

"It'll stop hurting in a few hours anyway." Lucy said as she got up.

"I don't think that's how it works." Sting said.

"Please!" Lucy scoffed. "You just don't think, period."

Crossing his arms, Sting glared at her. "You're just jealous because I'm prettier than you."

Lucy snorted. "Who told you that? Lecter?"

"…" Sting stalked out of the room.

There was silence, and then there was laughter; Lucy clutching her side and Rogue leaning on the wall for support.

Lucy straightened up and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "We need to go back to Fairy Tail and sort a few things out. Did you send a message back to Sabertooth?"

"Lecter and Frosch took it back."

Lucy looked over at him skeptically. "You sent two cats to deliver an important message to Master Jiemma?"

"They aren't _just_ cats." Rogue argued, picking up his own bag. "They're winged, flying cats. And that may go extra for Frosch, because I'm pretty sure his Dad had an affair with a frog."

Lucy giggled. "A flying cat-frog. It's definitely I first."

"Stranger things have happened." Rogue shrugged.

"Stranger then a flying cat-frog?" Lucy arched an eyebrow.

"Well, I can't think of anything at the moment, but I'm decently sure that somewhere in the world, something stranger has happened." Rogue told her seriously.

Lucy rolled her eyes at him and went to find Sting. "Take care of everything here for me, okay?"

Rogue looked at her for a minute, and then shrugged. "Sure."

Lucy grinned at him. "I don't know what I'd do if you died."

"I do." He grumbled. "You'd mourn for a few days and then find another personal slave to do your bidding."

"Oh, please." Lucy laughed."… No personal slave, no matter how hard and long I search, could ever be as devoted as you!"

"You're hilarious." He told her, rolling his eyes.

"I know." Lucy replied, grinning and closing her eyes. "It's one of my best qualities."

Rogue promptly threw a pillow at her.

Lucy laughed and turned to chase after Sting. She turned back to wave as she raced out the door.

Lucy caught up with Sting pretty fast, even though he'd gotten about a ten minute head start.

"Did I hurt your feelings?" Lucy asked him, bumping his shoulder.

He snorted. "You wish you had that much control over me."

She shrugged. "It's true, I do. Every time I see a shooting star, where most people would wish for world peace or a healthy world, I wish for you as my loyal servant whose undying loyalty is only towards me."

"You conceited girls." Sting teased.

"No doubt one of my many flaws." Lucy said with a sigh and a shake of her head.

Rogue walked up, shifting his bag to his other shoulder. "Many? Please, you're practically all flaw. Is there anything _not_ wrong about you?"

"Ah, shaddup." Lucy slurred. She wrapped an arm around each of their necks. "Hn…" She grimaced.

"You forgot again, stupid girl." Rogue said unnecessarily.

"It'll stop hurting in a few hours." She said again.

"You really are stupid if you believe that." Rogue smiled. "Mind over matter doesn't heal gashes and stab wounds."

"It does if I say it will."

"Stupid."

"So," Sting said, folding his arms behind his head. They were nearing the Fairy Tail building. "We have forgetful and stupid, any more flaws of Lucy's?"

"Bossy." Rogue said immediately.

"Rude." Sting shrugged.

"You left out conceited." Lucy supplied.

The guys laughed. "So I'm forgetful, stupid, bossy, rude, and conceited. Anything else?"

"Have you already said 'violent'?" Erza asked, coming up behind them.

"How 'bout 'talkative'?" Natsu said sleepily.

"Does overly emotional count?" Gray asked.

Lucy crossed her arms. "So now I'm forgetful, stupid, bossy, rude, conceited, violent, talkative, and overly emotional? Is there anything good about me?"

"Well…" Stings gaze dropped down to Lucy's chest.

Rogue held his unsheathed katana under Stings chin. "Do you want to die?"

Sting sighed.

Erza laughed and smiled at Lucy. The smile lasted approximately three seconds, three seconds in which Erza got a good look at Lucy, including the bandages in three different places and the stiffness the blonde mage walked with.

"What happened?" she asked sharply.

Lucy smiled and nodded the elder girl and her teammates into the building. Lucy walked over to Makarov, each step bringing the corners of her smile down and a bit less light in her cheerful brown eyes. Lucy stopped in front of Makarov and crossed her arms, careful of her shoulder.

As he looked at her, Makarov sighed and led them to a table. Lucy sat heavily, and then paled as she jarred the wounds in her thigh, stomach, and shoulder. Her head dropped and her forehead hit the table. Smiling softly, Rogue and Sting sat on either side of her, stroking her hair. Erza, Natsu, and Gray sat on the other side of the table, sharing the same concerned look as Makarov, who was sitting on the end of the tabletop.

"I'm fine." She said quietly. "It'll stop hurting-"

"In a few hours." Sting finished. "We know. You've been saying that since it happened. Ah, quick question though. To us, a few hours is two or three, but, uh, how many is a few in your mind, 'cause it's been about eight."

"Shut up." Lucy groaned.

Makarov frowned deeply. "Explain." He ordered.

Rogue spread his hands on the table. "At about three this morning, an assassin broke into our hotel room. Lucy sensed them quickly, and woke us. It was dark, and though our dragon senses are enhanced, we can't see in the dark. He'd also camouflaged his smell. We could tell he was there, but we couldn't pinpoint where."

Sting sighed." But he could pinpoint us. He threw a knife at Lucy. It slashed through the skin on her thigh and stuck to the wall behind her. She got the guy talking, and from that we could tell where he was. She handed the knife he'd thrown at her to me. He threw another one at her. Rogue moved her out of the way to keep it from killing her, but it still hit her shoulder. The next one hit her stomach, and it was a lot bigger. She walked forward like it wasn't there, and scared the crap out of the guy. Lucy gave Rogue the knife from her shoulder and we took him out while Lucy interrogated."

Makarov sighed, but nodded. "So who hired the assassin?"

Lucy pushed herself up, looking at him with a somber expression. "He didn't know, but the person had two guild marks."

"Two?" Makarov asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah. He didn't recognize the first one. But the second one was Fairy Tail."

There was silence as they took that in. "Are you saying you suspect one of us?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. This was someone who had recently quit Fairy Tail, and had joined the Dark Guild. There was only one, right?"

Makarov sighed. "So it was Cana?"

"Unless someone else has quit recently too."

"No… it was most likely Cana."

Lucy looked at him, and she knew he was hiding something from her, but she let it be. She trusted Fairy Tail with her life, every one of them. But, still, she couldn't help but feel at least a little bit suspicious. Something was up… and she wanted to know what.


	5. First Strike

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

The entire foundation of Fairy Tail shook with a ferocity that sent Elfman flying across the place. Lucy was thrown onto the floor, causing her to reopen her wounds and go five shades paler than she should be. She groaned and dropped her head to the floor.

The building shook again. In the process of trying to help her up, Sting toppled over Lucy. His foot hit her stomach, which caused her to gasp in pain.

"Owww…" She groaned, rolling over onto her back. "Life is Hell. I'm staying here."

"Oh, come on. You've lived through worse than a couple stab wounds."

"That won't make these wounds hurt any less." Rogue said, scooping Lucy up off the ground. He looked towards Makarov. "I need to change her bandages. Do you have a place too-"

"Absolutely not." Erza said, crossing her arms.

"Uh… what?" Sting asked, getting up.

"I don't know how cozy you've gotten with Lucy, but while there is a female medic around, I will not allow you," she pointed at Rogue," or you," her finger moved to point at Sting, "to change her bandages."

"…Why?" Sting asked. Rogue, now understanding, shook his head in disappointment.

"Don't you get it?" Natsu said. He hadn't been moved at all when Fairy Tail shook. He sat arms and legs crossed, at the table. "Her bandages can't be changed without taking her clothes off."

Sting raised his eyebrows and looked over at Lucy suggestively. Rogue held Lucy to him with one hand, and knocked his katana over Stings head with the other.

As the building shook again, Lucy pushed her way out of Rogues tight grip. "Someone needs to check on that. It kind of means trouble."

"You're hurt, Lucy. Come here." Erza said sternly.

Lucy, already halfway to the door, stopped and turned back. "No."

The usually rowdy guild was silent. Not many could match Erza, they knew, but Lucy was different. Lucy had no sense of danger when it came to Erza.

Erza stood and stared and Lucy, who shrugged and turned back to the door.

"Lucy!" Erza called after her. "This isn't like other times when you've been at least a little healed before you go back into battle. Your wounds now are fresh. They're still bleeding! If you get in a serious fight now you might die!"

"Enough." Sting said, putting a restraining hand on Erza's shoulder. "There's no stopping her now. If you don't want her dead, you need to go with her and hope that you'll be enough to keep her safe if she collapses."

"What do you mean _if_ she collapses?" Gray asked. "With wounds like that?"

Confused, Sting and Rogue looked around at all the skeptical faces.

"You mean… you don't think Lucy can…?" Sting stammered, eyebrows forming a confused V.

"When was the last time you saw Lucy fight?" Rogue asked.

"Well…" Erza stammered.

Rogue nodded. "Now I see. You haven't witnessed Lucy in a fight sense she left Fairy Tail." He turned towards the door. "In that case, you may want to come see this."

Curious, Team Natsu followed the two Sabertooth members out the door.

About half of the new dark guild were on the ground, tongue's lolling and X's for eyes. Lucy, in cold fury, walked past the other half. With blank expressions, they watched her pass. Her cold eyes were trained on one person. He stood past them all, out of harm's way. Clearly, he was the leader. He wore something like a padded shirt. Everything he wore was black, from boots to pants to shirt, it was black. He had a hood, too, hiding his face and protecting his identity.

Lucy stopped in front of him. "Who are you?"

"We are Josho oni*."

Lucy's eyes grew colder. "What is your name?"

"I have no name in which you may speak."

Lucy's eyes went wide. She recognized this voice. Lucy snapped her whip towards him. It hit his hood and split it right down the middle. The sides of the hood fell sideways to lie on his shoulders. Only…

He was a she.

She was familiar… but different.

She was Cana.

Cana was dark.

Surprise and anger seeped into Lucy's eyes. She yelled in fury and cracked her whip towards the closest person, who just so happened to be a guy coming up behind her with scissor-like claws. He raised his hand and-

Lucy's whip cracked across his face. He fell back, but was soon replaced with another man. He wielded a scythe. As he swung it towards her, she twisted. Her whip wrapped around the hilt of the scythe, and she pulled it out of his hand and into hers. She swung it, and it connected to his stomach, sent splashes of red everywhere.

By that time, the people of Josho oni realized that if they went one on one, they would lose. Five men surrounded Lucy at once. One grabbed her arms and held them behind her back. Another came up with a knife and held it under her chin.

The members of Fairy Tail tried to get to her, but they were all blocked by different members of Josho oni. As the three remaining men moved in towards her, Lucy struggled more and more. The man pressed the knife in further, until it drew blood. Gritting her teeth, Lucy leaned back into the man holding her arms, and kicked the man with the knife away with both feet. He twisted as he fell, a result of Lucy's well placed, rib cracking kick. He landed on top of his knife.

Lucy kicked her legs back, kicking the other mans feet out from under him. By the time he hit the ground, she was already punching out one man and kicking out another. One man ran up to her, his fist illuminated with a blue light that seemed to suck the energy right out of the air. Lucy dodged and caught his fist with her whip, twisting his arm behind him and breaking it.

By this time, the members of Fairy Tail had already finished off all of their opponents, and were now staring at Lucy as she knocked out the last offender.

Lucy looked towards Cana. "Leave."

Cana glared, before lifting up a blank card. All of the fallen Josho oni members were sucked into it.

At Lucy's raised brows, Cana shrugged. "Easy transportation."

Cana left, Lucy glaring after her.

While Fairy Tail stared wide- eyed, Rogue and Sting walked over to their team mate, who was still three shades too pale.

Cana turned back with a smile and a glare. Lucy's hand tightened into a fist, and she stepped forward.

Rogue and Sting both pulled her back with a sigh. "The others weren't strong, Lucy, but Cana is an S- class mage. She'll be harder to beat, and in your current condition, there's no guarantee that it's a battle you'll win."

Lucy sighed and rocked back on her heels. "I understand. I just don't like this situation. This timing, attacking when I'm not in prime condition, when Gildarts and Wendy aren't here, it's too well thought out."

"Lu-chan…" Lucy, Rogue, and Sting turned to see Levy walk up to them hesitantly. "What do you mean by 'this situation'?"

Lucy frowned. "This wasn't simply a battle. It was a warning. This… this was the beginning of the war."

***Josho oni is Japanese for Rising Demons. I think. I'm not Japanese, and I haven't taken classes, so I'm relying on Google translate. Sorry if I'm wrong. See y'all next Friday!**


	6. Battleground

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

The usually rowdy was silent after that. Everyone was feeling different emotions: worry, fear, anticipation, excitement. Some didn't really care.

Lucy was bustling around the guild, talking to everyone, helping prepare the newer members. There were a lot. Rei was the only one she recognized, and he didn't seem to need any help. He was sitting with Gray and Erza, goofing off and drinking.

And then Lucy stopped, eyes widening. She realized why she was keeping herself so busy. She realized why she was up and moving and (for lack of better word) frazzled.

She was Lucy Heartfilia, celestial spirit mage, S-class mage of Sabertooth.

And she was scared.

Lucy POV

So damn scared I didn't know what to do.

I don't know what to freaking do! I just got them back. I just got back my Fairy Tail! I don't want- no, I _can't_ lose them. Not again. I won't.

But…

But what am I supposed to do! I grabbed my whip and stormed out of Fairy Tail so fast nobody had time to react.

I honestly don't know where I'm going, but I couldn't stay there anymore. I heard chairs scraping the floor as the door slammed closed. Probably Rogue or Sting standing up, ready to chase after me. Let them come. They don't know this place. They'll end up getting lost. Baka's.

I walked down the street in a daze. I'm trying to figure out just what the hell is going on. The facts are popping up in bullets in my brain.

There's a new dark guild.

The new dark guild is taking members from other, legal guilds.

Cana is part of this dark guild

Someone that used to be from Fairy Tail hired an assassin to kill my companions and me.

Why is this happening? I just can't seem to understand it. This feeling… I don't think I've ever felt this way before. My friends, my family, my Nakama… they're being taken away from me. I want to know how to stop it.

"Then why don't you?" A voice whispered in my ear. I didn't flinch.

Instead, I glowered. "Tch. Stupid lion, showing up whenever you want. What are you doing here?"

"But, whatever could you mean?" Loke smiled at me. "Obviously, I'm here to soothe my Princess' troubled heart."

I laughed softly. "Loke is weird."

Loke spun in front of me, clutching his heart. "Princess, you wound me."

"You'll heal, you immortal pain in my ass." I sighed.

Loke laughed. "You're terrible."

"I know." I smiled.

Loke looked over at me and grabbed my hand. I was too tired to pull away, so I let it stay like that. That is, until I jerked it away to slap my neck. "Ouch!" I yelled.

"Bug bite?" Loke asked.

"I guess" I grumbled, rubbing my neck.

"Did you hear what's going on at Fairy Tail?" A guy walking by said. That got my attention.

"Yeah," his friend replied. "There's something of an army heading there now. More than a thousand men, I heard!"

I spun and grabbed the front of their shirts. "Explain. Now."

"Wha- wha… what the hell?!" One cried.

"Shut up, Kain. That's Lucy Heartfilia, from Sabertooth! Do you wanna die?!" The other yelled.

The angry black fire blazing around me was probably almost visible. "Explain!"

"Ye- yes! Ten minutes ago, some people saw a big army march towards Fairy Tail. They didn't look like the kinda people who'd just talk things out, ya know? But it ain't our problem, so we didn't mess with it!"

Angry, I threw them down. "Loke!" I ordered.

"Yes." He nodded, disappearing.

I took off running, pushing men out of the way, but still dodging woman and children. I jumped over a few carts too. Nothing could get in the way of me and Fairy Tail.

But the thousand person army sure slowed me down.

Natsu P.O.V.

We watched Lucy run out of Fairy Tail. I saw Rogue stand up, but he sat back down after a glance from Sting. "Just let her go." Sting told him. "She'll come back in a minute."

_Too bad we need her now. _I thought. I could smell the unfamiliar soldiers marching towards us. One glance from me to Erza, and everyone knew what was happening. She finished up the cake Mira had given her in one bite, and then stood up, grabbing her sword.

We all walked outside. It looked pretty much the same way it had smelled. A thousand, maybe more, soldiers, all marching towards us. They were mages. I hadn't smelled that.

That pissed me off.

Why didn't I smell that?!

The army stopped. A figure in all black marched out in front of them, clasping her hands behind her back and smiling at us. It wasn't a friendly smile.

"My name is Heda. Would you do us a favor and surrender?"

"No." I muttered. She still heard it, I know. "Can you do us a favor a keel over?"

She laughed. "I'm afraid not. Well, if that's how it is, then I suppose we have no choice." She glanced over her shoulder. "You can attack now."

And then there was chaos. They all ran out towards us.

"I'm getting fired up!" I grinned. Erza stepped forward and raised her sword, Gray grinned in anticipation.

I honestly don't remember enough after that to explain it to anyone, but when things finally slowed down, I had time to think instead of moving on instinct. I also had time to notice that five hundred of the thousand were still standing, and most Fairy Tail is worse for wear. Only Gray, Erza, Chalice and I are still fighting. Oh, well, Sting and Rogue are still standing, too, but… they aren't Fairy Tail.

We're all pretty strong, but it's still six against five hundred, and even Erza can only take about two hundred on her best day.

That was when Lucy flipped over the head of five hundred mages and landed in front of us.

Chalice P.O.V.

Lucy Heartfilia. I've heard stories, I've seen pictures, and I've seen the strong emotions on the faces of people who knew her. I had no idea.

Lucy landed in front of me with a soft _thump_. Her hair hit her shoulders a half second later. She lifted her head, and every one of those soldiers shifted uncomfortably under her death glare.

I really wasn't expecting what happened then. Lucy smiled. And it wasn't one of those smiles that you flash before a fight that makes the opponent wet himself, either. It was a kind, genuine smile. "How fun. Did you enjoy playing with my family? Unfortunately, I have to take them home now, but maybe we can meet again some other time."

"You…" Heda growled. "Attack!" she ordered her army. They stepped moved forward, but it was no charge of the light brigade.

"Oh?" Lucy frowned, cocking her head to the side. "But it's almost dinnertime. Father will be disappointed if we're late." When they continued forward, she sighed. "I suppose there's no helping it, then." Her eyes flashed. "I'll play with you."

"May God be with you." Sting and Rogue prayed at the same time. I stifled a laugh. I didn't do a very good job.

There was a flash of light, and then every one of Lucy's fourteen spirits appeared before me. Virgo instantly turned and ran off, obviously acting on previous orders. The others took off towards the five hundred. Aquarius crossed her arms and huffed. "Calling me for such a trivial matter. Why, I ought to-"

"You ought to behave and do as you were told." Lucy interrupted, not looking over.

"Excuse you, you-"

"Aquarius, obey!" Lucy ordered, her eyes flashing. Aquarius glared, but went off to fight.

Lucy and the rest of us launched ourselves back into battle as well.

Water covered the streets, courtesy of Juvia, was instantly hurled into about seven opposing mages, courtesy of me. I'm a water mage. There are a lot of elementals in Fairy Tail now; Juvia, Rei, and myself only to name a few.

I got distracted watching Lucy plow down her opponents. I haven't seen anything like it, and I was present during Erza's match against the hundred monsters. Granted, I was nine, but still. Being fourteen and only in Fairy Tail a year and a half, I'm the youngest S-class mage ever. But I'm still nothing compared to Lucy. I have to keep reminding myself to close my mouth before a big bug flies in.

And then it was over. Lucy stood over her fallen opponents, grinning playfully, and the rest of us were panting, out of breath.

"I win!" Lucy cheered. "That game was fun!"

"Not… It's not over yet!" Heda stood up, glaring furiously.

Lucy blinked. She looked over at Loke lazily, and he nodded. Lucy opened the gate to send her spirits home, and Loke grabbed Heda's collar and dragged her along with him as he left. Lucy waved good-bye, grinning broadly like this really was just a play date. Enjoying myself greatly, I waved as well, shouting "Come back soon!"

Once they were gone, Lucy and I met each other's gazes, and promptly doubled over laughing. She high-fived me, while the rest of Fairy Tail stared at us like 'what the fuck?!'

Being weird is fun.

And then Wendy and Charle landed next to me, scaring the heck outta me and making Lucy grin wider. "Virgo came and told us you needed our help." Wendy said. She took in the fallen Fairy Tail members and nodded. "Okay. I'll get to work, then." She started to run off, but stopped and turned back. "Welcome back, Lucy." She smiled, and then walked off.

Lucy blinked in surprise, touching her heart. Then she straightened and looked away.

I grinned. "Smile. It's more fun. Frowning is boring."

Lucy snorted and looked at me. I tilted my head to the side and winked. "I'm Chalice. Water mage, Fairy Tail member, S-class mage, et cetera, et cetera."

"S-class." Lucy said. "Very nice. Big accomplishment for someone your age. Wanna fight to see who's stronger?"

"Ah, no. I don't have a death wish. I took me a year to beat Natsu."

"You beat Natsu?" Lucy asked, surprised.

"Uh huh." I grinned. "He talks a lot of smack for someone who _lost_."

Lucy laughed, bumping my shoulder. "You're pretty cool."

"You're pretty normal." I said without thinking.

"Huh?" Lucy asked.

"Nothing. It's just, I knew you were pretty strong, 'cause even Erza respects you, so I figured you'd be like her or Laxus. You know, demanding and freakin' scary. But you aren't. Not when you're not fighting, anyways. It's almost like you have two different personalities."

"Who knows." Lucy shrugged. Her eyes slit towards me. "Maybe I do."

I laughed, but I wasn't one hundred percent sure she was joking.

Lucy sighed. Or, it sounded like a sigh, I don't know what it was, really. I didn't have time to think about it, either, because the next moment I was stopping Lucy's head from hitting the ground and screaming for Wendy.

I got Natsu instead. He was at my side instantly, taking Lucy from me and holding her up. Her head fell to rest on his shoulder. His eyes widened as she drooped down. I covered my mouth with my hand. "Lucy? Lucy!"

Fairy Tail surrounded us. Lucy groaned and lifted her head from Natsu's shoulder. The entire crowd moved as one as we sighed in relief.

Sting took Lucy from Natsu and walked into the building. Natsu complained, using unrepeatable words, but was ignored. Rogue rested a hand on Natsu's shoulder before following Sting inside.

In the eyes of the two Sabertooth members, was a ferocity that could only be followed by tragedy.

I don't know if we'll ever be the same after this.


	7. Illness

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

Lucy P.O.V.

I was awake by the time Sting got me into Fairy Tail, but I wasn't _aware_ until he plopped me down on a bed in the infirmary. I think he's still upset that I dumped him in the river and then ran away. He'll get over it eventually though.

I pushed my way up off the bed. Sting had already left, and I don't think Rogue had entered in the first place. There was someone else here though. A girl that's about seventeen, with long brown hair in a ponytail and bangs that slanted down over her right eye. Her eyes were blue, but they had webs inside. That was pretty cool, I have to admit. She was bustling around the room, and she did _not_ look happy.

_Maybe she's cold_, I thought with a smirk. She had a sleeveless black leather jacket with a red bandeau* bra, shorts that stopped just above her knees, and ankle high black heels. She was Fairy Tail, too. I could tell by the red tattoo on her right forearm. She only has one glove, too, on her right hand. I wonder…

_Eh, _I thought, _people have their weird fetishes. Guess I can't blame them, I used to wear my hair in a weird ponytail on the side of my head. _

She came over and gave me a glass of water and a few pills. I didn't say anything and just took them. She didn't look like the kind of person that would explain to me what I'm taking. And I've lived through worse than some bad medicine.

I downed the whole glass and wiped my mouth with my hand. "So, web-eyed girl, do you have a name? Or can I just call you web-eyed girl? Or-"

"My name," the girl interrupted, "is Catherine Anne Celestine. You can call me Cathy, you can call me Anne, but 'web-eyed girl' is out of the question."

"Cathy, huh?" I grinned. "I'm Lucy. How long have you been in Fairy Tail?"

"Five years." Cathy answered, turning her back to Lucy to put the medicine away.

"Dang. You guys sure are starting young. How-"

I was interrupted by Natsu crashing through the door. "Gray, you damn Popsicle. I'll get you for that!" He stood up and ran back out of the room.'

I sat there and blinked, and then looked back at Cathy. "So how long were you here before you hit Natsu for being too loud?"

Cathy turned and looked at me. "Two weeks." Her eyes turned from blue and webbed to a warm honey color.

"Whoa." I said in awe. "Your eyes. So pretty." She crawled forward on the bed to get a better look. Her head tilted to the side.

Cathy blushed and turned her head away, but not before her eyes turned scarlet. "They do that. It's hard to hide your emotions when your eyes are like an organic mood ring."

I smiled softly. "Why hide your emotions? What's the point? Isn't that the same as lying?"

Cathy blinked at me. "Yeah, I guess so." Her eyes turned back to their normal shade of blue. "Are you okay now? I'm going."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm good." I got up and followed Cathy to where Sting and Rogue were sitting with Team Natsu. I sat down when Cathy kept walking. She kept walking and didn't stop once she reached the door, frowning the whole way.

"Okay…" I said, situating myself at the table.

"Lucy! Are you okay now?" Natsu asked.

"Huh?" I said, dragging my gaze away from the door to look at Natsu. "Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine."

"Lucy…"

"I'm _fine_, Natsu." I cut my palm with one of my keys. "See? Bright and healthy. Nothing to worry about."

Natsu stayed quiet. I smiled at him and pushed myself up. I pulled Rogue and Sting over to the corner, out of Natsu's hearing range.

"So," Sting said, crossing his arms. "How are you really?"

I knew better than to lie, so I told them the truth. "I've been better." I flexed my arms. "But I've been worse. It doesn't hurt right now, but my muscles are getting harder to control. Not bad enough to slow me down, but annoying enough to make me wanna punch a wall."

"So… what are we doing, then?" Rogue asked.

I sighed. "Master Jiemma has the arrangements in order now, so I'm going to the house that he bought for us here. I need some rest."

I started to go back to the Team, but turned to look at them first. "And… I need you to call in Cyrus."

"Wha- wait a second!" Sting grabbed my arm. "You _just said _ it wasn't that bad!"

"It isn't."

"Then why are we calling _Cyrus_?"

"Because I said we need him here."

"No you didn't."

"Yes, I did. Just a second ago. Don't annoy me."

"Lucy…"

"_Cyrus. _Call. Now."

Sting growled, but let go of my arm. My muscles were twitching now. He could feel it, I know. I'd told him it was bad, and then told him to call in Cyrus. I don't know if he understands, but I know Rogue does. I left it to him as I walked away.

I still heard his explanation.

"She's fine now. But without him, she'll be dead in a week."

Life. It really knows how to screw with people.

I reached Natsu's table and leaned on it with both hands. "I'm going home, now. I'll see you all later."

"Home?" Wendy asked me. "You're leaving? But I just saw you again after years! Five of them!"

I smiled down at the seventeen year old Dragon Slayer. Her hair is about the same length as it was five years ago, still dark blue and reaching her waist. It's in a fishtail now, thrown over her shoulder and tied with a white ribbon. She's still wearing her bareback dresses, but their tighter and strapless, seeing as she has something different holding up her dresses now. **Reedus was wrong. **I thought. **He was off in that picture of Wendy.** I still remembered looking at all of Reedus' pictures that he had drawn of us when we returned in X791.

I tugged on her hair and winked. "Master Jiemma bought us a house here. I'll be back tomorrow."

Wendy relaxed and smiled.

I turned towards the door and looked back over my shoulder. "I'm going now. I'll see you tomorrow."

""Kay!" Wendy grinned. "Sleep well!"

"Yeah…" I said, walking to the door. "You too. Sleep well."

I remember it very well. The day I met him.

I remember the day I met Cyrus Mizuki.

_He was… just standing there. I was on my own, in the middle of a fight and losing. It was happening again, the build-up of my power was getting too strong. But… if I use it…I can't. I wasn't hired to kill them. I was hired to stop them. There's a difference. But now I have to choose… do I kill the bad guys or do I die myself? That's what it comes down to. Homicide or suicide?_

_And then he was in front of me. Shadows leaked out from around his feet and took out the last few remaining guys standing. He looked over his shoulder at me with a bored expression. "You couldn't even take them out?"_

_It's moments like this when words just don't do justice. Besides, I couldn't talk even if I wanted to. I flipped him off. _

_He just blinked at me. He took in the unconscious dark guild members on the ground, about 150 of them, and how I didn't have a scratch on me. He raised an eyebrow._

"_Too much." I gasped. "Can't handle it all."_

_He raised his head up higher. "Ah, you're power is too much, and if you release it with your kind of magic someone will get seriously hurt?" He summed it up nicely, so I nodded. He sighed. "Fine, then. If lives are on the line."_

_He walked over and lifted my chin up. _

_And then he kissed me. _

_Now I'm positive the "What the hell?" bubble over my heads said it all, but seriously, What the hell?_

_He stood up and swung his arm out. Dark shadows flew from his arm to slash down a few trees that surrounded us._

_I breathed out a sigh of relief. I don't know what he did, but it worked. The extra power was gone. _

_Breathing. It really is wonderful._

_Now that I wasn't dying, I had time to actually look at him. His eyes were golden, that's what I noticed first. He had silver hair, that's what I noticed second. It was down to his shoulders and tied back into a ponytail with a black ribbon. His clothes were dark. Granted, his shirt was white, but it was covered with a black jacket, so… he also had gray baggy pants and black shoes._

_He got up and started to walk away. _

"_Hey!" I called after him, pushing myself up. He turned. "What's your name?"_

_He glanced at me, and started walking again when I reached him. "Cyrus Mizuki."_

"_Okay, Cyrus Mizuki, do you belong to a guild?"_

"_No." He stated shortly. _

_I rolled my eyes. "Do you want to?"_

_He looked at me curiously. "I suppose so…"_

_He noticed my celestial keys clinking and looked down. "You are Lucy Heartfilia."_

_I groaned. "No, eww. Heartfilia, what kind of tragic last name is that?"_

_The corner of his mouth twitched in what I'm guessing is his version of a smile._

"_I'm Lucy." I told him. "Lucy of Sabertooth. And I'm asking you if you want to join."_

_He looked at me for a second, and then sighed. "I suppose you wouldn't take no for an answer anyway."_

_I grinned. "Awesome! I'm going back now. Follow me or whatever."_

"_Sure."_

I was the one who brought him to Sabertooth. But he was the one who made his name there. Cyrus stayed with me for awhile, before I teamed up with Sting and Rogue. He became an S-class mage two years after I did.

I became an S-class mage during my second year of Sabertooth. It was accidental. Experience trains you better than anything else, you know? I was on a mission with Cyrus, and we got distracted. Cyrus was down and I was desperate. So suddenly I decided I wasn't going to hold back anymore, and BOOM! Crazy awesome power for Lucy!

I went home and challenged Minerva. I figured it was the best way to prove your rank, challenge the best. Imagine her snooty, stuck up surprise when I kicked her educated, high class ass out of the building.

It made my day.

So, yeah, I remember Cyrus. I remember the old Cyrus I brought to Sabertooth. But he isn't exactly the same anymore. I suppose a shadow-make mage would get darker as his power got stronger. We kind of… broke apart. But Cyrus is the only mage I know that can take my extra power and get rid of it without hurting people.

So… yeah… It's either Cyrus or death…

I think the choice is pretty clear.

When I got to the house, I chuckled. It was bigger than Heartfilia mansion. I shrugged and opened the door, going straight up the stairs and into the nearest bedroom.

None of the bedrooms are decorated yet. Courtesy of Master Jiemma, there's a spell that decorated the room the way you like it while you sleep. Right now everything's gray and ordinary.

Too bad, so sad, I'm going to sleep now.

And I crashed on the bed and fell asleep.

Sting P.O.V.

I called Mizuki. I loathe him with everything in me, but I called him, because, as much as I hate it, he's the only one that can keep Lucy alive.

It was getting worse. Lucy is naturally a very strong mage, but since she became an S-class wizard, her powers have gotten to be too much. It builds up over the years, but it doesn't seem to really slow her down until about three years. Then she starts passing out, getting muscle spasms, the works. The longer she goes without getting rid of the extra power the worse the sickness gets. And there's a war coming that Lucy needs to be ready for.

Mizuki needs to get here fast.


	8. Amends

**Disclaimer: I'm sitting here writing a FanFiction about my favorite manga. Honestly, if I owned Fairy Tail, I probably wouldn't even be on this site right now. **

Lucy P.O.V.

When I woke up, my room was redone. Now, I honestly hadn't thought about my dream bedroom before, but I'm guessing it's about like this one.

My walls were dark purple, my carpet was red. I liked that combination. My four poster bed had a purple comforter and drapes, while the sheets were almost a lime green.

There was a desk in the corner, on top of which was a copy of the book I had been writing in my first years of Fairy Tail. The closet was bigger, and filled with clothes I had never seen before but can't wait to wear. The drapes on the windows were a green that matched the sheets. There was I light hanging from the middle of the room. It wasn't quite big enough to be a chandelier, but it wasn't small, either. It was black and shiny and the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

And that's saying something, 'cause I've seen lots of pretty things.

There was a knock on the door. I hadn't sensed Sting or Rogue coming home, but I called for whoever it was to come in, anyways. I could handle an assassin fine right now. I had my keys and light was shining through the window.

But as it turned out, my caution was unnecessary. A girl of about fourteen pushed the door open, blushing furiously and bowing before entering the room. I'd seen her before…

Where had I seen her before?

She had hair about as blonde as mine, but hers was a bit more… golden, I guess… you know what I mean. It was tied up in a wavy ponytail that reached just below her shoulders. I suppose if it was down, it would reach her middle back. Her eyes were blue like the ocean. She resembled the ocean in another way, too. She was calm, but ready to kill someone in a second if she needed to. I could tell by the way she stood.

Yeah… I remember her. She was the girl I was joking with yesterday. What was her name… Yeah, Chalice, the S-class water mage.

I smiled at her. She blinked in surprise, and then smiled back. "Catherine sent me to check up on you. I knocked, but no one answered, so I just came in, sorry…"

I waved off her apology. "Don't worry 'bout it." I grinned and crashed on my bed. "So Cathy sent you? Why didn't she come herself?"

Chalice shrugged. "She got a lead on this guy she'd been searching for. It's a long story and, in all honesty, I only listened to about half of it."

I laughed. "So, where are Rogue and Sting?"

Chalice blinked. "The guys you came here with? The quiet one is at the guild with the two exceed that came back today, and the blonde one is walking around moping about a "stupid Mizuki". So… who's Mizuki?"

I mentally cursed Sting. "He's… a friend of mine that we're calling down here to help out with a few things."

"Ooh." Chalice said, sitting next to me on the bed. "Is he from Sabertooth too?"

I nodded. "Uh huh. I'm the one that took him there. He's a shadow make mage. And a very dear friend of mine."

"Ooh. Do you like him?" She said in a singsong voice.

"No. You sound like Happy." I chuckled. "As a matter of fact, I like someone else."

"Yeah? Yeah?" She said enthusiastically, turning on her stomach and propping her head up on the fists. "Who?"

"I'm not gonna tell you!" I sang.

She gasped. "So mean!" She laughed. "Okay, is it… someone from Fairy Tail?"

"Nope."

"Is it… someone from Sabertooth?"

"Yup."

She giggled and clapped her hands. "Okay, okay! Is it someone I know?"

"Eh…" I hesitated.

"Okay, rephrase. Is it someone I've met?"

"Yeah."

"Yay, yay!" She chanted. "I'm getting closer!"

I laughed. "Is it… someone from your team?"

"That's enough for today." I sighed, pushing my way up.

"Wait, wait!" She yelled. I smiled. "At least answer the last one! Pretty pretty please?"

"Yes." I threw over my shoulder. I went to my closet. Then I hesitated.

"Hey, Chalice."

"Yeah?" She said, looking up from her lap to me.

"Is it still yesterday?"

She cocked her head to the side, before giggling. "No, it's tomorrow. You left Fairy Tail yesterday. You must have slept for a long time."

"Yeah… so then, what time is it?"

"Morning." She answered. "About nine a.m."

I nodded and pulled a new outfit out of the closet. A blue corset-like thing, a black skirt, ripped leggings and sneakers. Chalice turned away as I changed. She talked about random things while I braided my bangs on either side and pulled all my hair into a ponytail.

I pulled on my leather bracelet that Sting had given me once after a mission. It wasn't really leather. It was the hide/skin of some weird lizard/mammal hybrid we were hired to take out once. It was just this long strip that he's carved cool patterns into that wrapped around my wrist a few times. I liked it, and it went with a lot of my stuff, so I wore it.

… It matched the sprite skull earrings Rogue gave me for my birthday.

We were about to walk out the door when I stopped. Thinking for a second, I grabbed a bag and a few more things before following Chalice out the door. I grabbed and apple from the kitchen as we left.

"So, Chalice, do you have any siblings?" I asked as we started walking down the road.

She nodded. "I have twin brothers. They're nine, and they're so cute! I also have a little sister, an older brother and another sister."

I whistled. "That's quite a few kids."

"Yeah…" she said slowly. "My dad died when I was little, at an accident at work. Mama's sick and bedridden, so I guess it's good that I have older siblings."

She looked up at me and grinned. "Kyo-nii and Cadence-nee are in Fairy Tail, too."

"Yeah?" I said. "What kind of mages are they?"

She giggled. "Kyo-nii doesn't know what he's doing most of the time, and we don't really have a name for his kind of magic, he just, kinda takes magic from other people."

Really? Oh, wait. "Really?"

She nodded. "Uh huh. He could be S-class, too. If he wanted to. But… he thinks it's cheating, so he likes to fight with knives instead. He's really good. He only uses his magic as a last resort."

How… cool. Huh. I like that. "So, what about your sister?"

Chalice giggled again. "Cadence-nee uses sound waves. I like it, 'cause it's like, ironic, that her magic matches her name."

I laughed as we walked into the Fairy Tail building. "Alright. I have to go take care of a few things, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Kay, kay!" She cheered, running off. I chuckled and searched the room for a certain bluenette that I need to make amends with.

I found her, sitting in the corner at a table by herself. I walked across the building and slammed a book down in front of Levi. She jumped a foot in the air with a high pitched "Eeek!"

I smiled down at her. "Lu-chan! You scared me!"

I just chuckled and pushed the book towards her. "I promised."

Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. By that time I was already far away, but I still heard her soft "Lu-chan…"

I smiled. Hey, a promise is a promise. I don't break my promises to anyone, and especially not Levi.

I found Erza soon after. I sat down next to her and ordered a piece of cake from Mira. It landed in front of me a minute later, and then Mira was whisked away by other customers before I could say my thanks. I smiled to myself. I would thank her later.

The cake was strawberry, and I took one bite and was on Cloud 9. Mira's cake is the best. With the fork still in my mouth, I looked over my shoulder at the redhead next to me.

I took the fork out of my mouth and sighed, pushing the cake over to her. "Just take a bite before you burn a hole in my head."

Erza laughed and took a bite. She looked at me with wide eyes. "Good, yeah?" I chuckled. She nodded enthusiastically.

"Take it." I laughed. "Just take it already!"

Erza looked at me for a minute, before putting her fork down. "Lucy…"

"Uh-oh! Look at the time!" I interrupted. "I have to go talk to… people, about…. Things…. And such… so… bye!" I raced off.

I saw Chalice across the room and waved to her. She waved back cheerfully. She's sweet. I like her. She's easy to talk to. She was sitting next to two people who must be Kyo and Cadence, because they looked too much like her to be anyone else. Kyo had her blonde hair, and Cadence shared her blue eyes. They followed their little sister's gaze and looked at me uncertainly, before launching into a conversation with Chalice.

I sneezed, and then glanced back over at them. Chalice was laughing at me, so I stuck my tongue out at her, which caused her to laugh harder, which caused her to fall out of her chair. Half way across the room, I put my hands out like I could catch her, and winced when she hit the floor. Kyo was laughing and rolled his eyes at me. I mouthed "Is she okay?" and he nodded, pulling her back up and chuckling.

I ran into Juvia, too. It took awhile, but I seemed to get it across that I don't like Gray that way. After that, she became pretty friendly. Of course, then she saw Gray talking to Natsu and ran off without a glance back. I don't blame her, though. She's in love.

I walked around and talked to the guild mates I haven't seen in years, as well as a few I've never met in my life. I fought with Sting (Rogue sat by laughing), talked to Laxus (Rogue was still laughing), and gave Gajeel some pointers on how to beat Natsu (Rogue was tackled by Sting and they were now fighting).

I have to admit, I've really missed my Nakama. I'm glad they don't hate me anymore. It really sucks to be hated.

The doors slammed open, and everything immediately quieted down. We all turned to see a man standing in the doorway.

Everything was quiet, and then…

"Cyrus!" I called.

"Mizuki." Sting and Rogue grumbled at the same time, obviously not as enthused as I was.

Normal P.O.V.

Lucy ran up and put her hands on his shoulders. "You got here fast." She told him.

He shrugged. "I was already in the area. Got a call from Baka over there." He nodded over to Sting.

"What'd you call me?" Sting yelled.

"So, what, now you're stupid _and_ deaf?" Cyrus said, crossing his arms and bowing his head.

"Why I-"

Sting's threat was interrupted by Lucy, who moved in between them. Her eyes flashed, and her hand went to her whip. "Do I need to break this up?" She asked dangerously.

Cyrus sighed and closed his eyes, and Sting took a few steps back. "N-no! I-it's all good! Don't worry, Lucy, we were just playing around!"

Lucy looked at him, and then turned and walked out of the building. Rogue snickered and followed after her, Frosch holding onto his back.

Fairy Tail watched her leave.

"She's almost…"

"…as scary as Erza…"

"yeah…"


	9. Darkness

**Disclaimer: I own this plot line and the OC's. Not Fairy Tail (sighs)….**

Normal P.O.V.

"What do you mean 'as scary as Erza'?" Erza asked.

"Oh, please." Sting scoffed from where he was having a glaring contest with Cyrus. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed how freaking scary you are when you're angry."

Before Erza could reply, Rogue came back in and looked straight over to the other Sabertooth members. Any normal person couldn't tell, but he was panicked. So panicked that he didn't notice the whole guild was listening when he said "Lucy just almost killed a guy for hitting this little boy. She's losing control. And you need to do something about it soon, before she kills someone. I can't hold it back much longer, that magic isn't my specialty."

"_That's_ why you called me here?" Cyrus asked them. "It's happening again so fast?"

"Will that be a problem, Mizuki?" Sting sneered.

"It might!" Cyrus yelled. "I just got back from a big mission! My power is drained and I didn't really have enough energy in the first place!"

"So what are you gonna do?" Rogue said. "Because we can't leave her like this and we have orders from the council to kill her if she loses control."

"Yeah, I can't kill Lucy, Mizuki!" Sting yelled. "I can't… I just… I just _can't._ And you're the only one in the world with the power to help her!"

"I don't want her dead either!" Cyrus yelled. "I just," He pressed his palms to his face. "It's not that I _won't, _it's that I _can't._ Even if I wanted to do something stupid like sacrifice myself, it wouldn't work because I would die before the end of the spell. And it won't work if it isn't completed!"

Erza grabbed them all by their collars and dragged them out, her teammates following after her. She dropped them outside where no one could hear them as easily. "Speak. I want to know what you're talking about, and I want to know now."

Sting sighed and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. "Fine. Just, not here."

"Sting…" Rogue said.

"I know." Sting told his friend. "But they are her friends, and they have a right to know." He turned to Erza. "Come on."

They followed him back to their house… which was more like a mansion. They sat down in the living room, with Rogue drinking tea in the armchair, Gray and Natsu on one couch, Erza, Rei, and Wendy on the other. Sting stood against the wall and Cyrus took the other armchair.

"First," Rogue said, not looking up from his tea, "there will be no loud noises whatsoever, because Lucy is upstairs sleeping and she needs rest. Don't wake her up." He went back to sipping his tea.

"Okay," Sting sighed, looking utterly defeated. "Lucy… her powers have expanded greatly. I don't know what she did to get this strong; she was like this from the beginning. Well, not exactly, but she was strong enough to be an S-class mage of Sabertooth. She didn't accept at first, but after she came back from a mission with Mizuki, she was way stronger than normal. She challenged Minerva and won. After that, she became our strongest mage. Jiemma adopted her, because he wanted to be related to the strongest mage so he could brag. I don't think she was against it, but she didn't seem very happy either."

Cyrus sighed. "When Lucy uses her power, she only uses about 40% of it. Any more would seriously injure her opponent, and, Sabertooth or not, Lucy's heart is too big to allow her to kill someone. But that remaining 60% builds up inside of her, and she can't release it without killing someone."

Rogue put his empty cup down on the coffee table. "Unfortunately, it seems she can't hold it in without killing someone too. When it builds up too high, she changes into someone else."

"You mean like how that Hades guy changed into Zero?" Natsu asked.

"No." Rogue sighed. "This is all Lucy, it's just… her intentions… are evil. We call her Kurai."

"But you just said it was Lucy."

"It is!" Rogue said. "It's just… I guess you'd have to see it to understand."

Cyrus leaned back into the chair. "Her powers… they're almost…"

"Dark."

They all turned to see Lucy standing in the doorway. "What?" Erza asked.

"My powers. They're dark."

The room was silent. And then… "WHAT?!" they all exclaimed.

"Lucy, I know you wanted power," Erza said, "But this isn't the way to-"

"Oh, shut up." Lucy interrupted, silencing the Titania. "I didn't _ask_ for them, stupid. They were given to me."

Erza blinked, and it seemed the whole room, minus Lucy, was holding their breath. "Tell me." Erza said and they all sighed in relief.

Lucy's eyes darkened. "I don't remember most of it."

"Tell me what you remember."

Lucy sighed and massaged her temples. She closed her eyes. "After I left Fairy Tail, I went to another city. I don't know where, I just wandered around for awhile. I didn't really have a plan. It was dark, and… I was tired. Someone… I think he stepped out from an alley or something, but I was so tired."

She swayed, but stayed upright. Her eyes were still closed. "He said something, but I didn't hear him. I think… I think he said something about power. How I could have it if I wanted it. I told him no, I would get it the natural way. But he wouldn't take no for an answer."

She opened her eyes, and looked at Erza. There was sadness in her eyes that Erza had never seen on her before. "I was so tired; I just wanted him to go away! And he… and he… he… gave me something. And he said, "sleep." And I did. After that… I can't remember much. I kept waking up, and I saw him moving around, but it was dark and I kept going back to sleep, and when I woke up again I had this." She swept her hair back so they could see a tattoo on her neck behind and below her ear. It was a cross, which looked carved into her skin, with puncture wounds around it. Not really a tattoo at all. It was a scar that marked her as cursed.

Lucy fixed her hair back. "Ever since then, there's been a heavy weight on my chest. It made it hard to breathe for a while, but I got used to it. But my powers… this thing…" Her hand went to her scar. "They're unnatural, and it hurt every time I use my powers. The weight kept getting heavier, and I finally collapsed from it. In the middle of a mission. In the middle of a fight, I collapsed."

"So… what happened?" Natsu asked her.

She looked at him, surprised, as if she'd forgotten he was there. "Cyrus came in and saved my sorry ass, that's what happened." She laughed. "And, he took the weight away. For awhile anyway."

They all turned to look at Cyrus, who was deep in thought. "How heavy is the weight now, Lucy?" he asked quietly.

Shocked, Lucy widened her eyes and stepped back. "What do you mean?"

"How close are you to collapsing now, Lucy?"

"I-I'm fine!" She insisted. "It hurts a little, yeah, but it's nothing to worry abou-"

"Please. You can barely stand there." He said.

"No! Really, I'm fine."

Cyrus P.O.V.

Lucy is a liar. I've known her for four years, she was my best friend. I can tell when she's in pain.

But… I also know that if I push her any farther she'll either kick my ass or collapse on the spot.

So I left her alone. I had more important things to do. I had to save her life.

Lucy P.O.V.

Cyrus knows too much. Baka. He sees what he shouldn't be able to see. But I can't be mad at him. I've tried before. It doesn't work.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid!

I hate him! He can go die! Just die!

But he can't, because I would hate him for it.

He's so screwed.

I walked out of the room after him. He went one way and I went the other. I went to the door and opened it. The energy drifted in to me. I could feel it all. Tension. Anger. Fear. Sadness.

Pain. I felt their pain. Fairy Tails. I _felt _it. Damn it!

"Sting, Rogue, come on! We're going! There's another fight at Fairy Tail!" My teammates were at my side in an instant, and we were walking down the street to Fairy Tail. No rush, Fairy Tail can protect themselves from those guys.

That's what I thought. But…

When I got there, there were only two people still standing and they weren't from Fairy Tail. The guild members were all down for the count. I didn't see anyone from Josho oni around. Had Fairy Tail been taken out by just these two people?

"Bastard." Laxus growled, pushing himself up and staggering forward. Gajeel, Juvia, Mira, and Freed stood up as well, but they were worse for wear. They all were. I put out a hand and held my partners back. I hate sacrifices, but I need to know what I'm up against.

One of the figures threw their head back and laughed. It was Cana. Damn it, it was Cana! She held up a card, and a black mist flew out. The dark cloud went and hovered over Mira, Gajeel , and Juvia. Freed moved away quickly, and wasn't affected when the cloud sucked the power from the three Fairy Tail mages.

"That's quite enough playing, Cana. The real guests are here now. So, I'll need you to keep them busy while I converse with Miss Heartfilia."

Lucy growled, not because this man was an evil bastard, but for the use of her last name. The man smiled, and Lucy's eyes widened. "No way…"

The man snapped his fingers, and they both disappeared.

Natsu launched himself at Cana, but missed and hit the ground rolling when she flipped away. She landed a few yards away. Cana smiled at him and waved goodbye as the hooded figure appeared next to her, grabbed her arm, and disappeared.

And across the battleground, with blood spilling out of the corner of her mouth, a beaten and battered Lucy fell to her knees. "Damn…"


	10. Characters

**This isn't officially a chapter, I had a review asking for character descriptions for my OC's****.**

Name: Catherine Anne Celestine

Nickname: Anne/Cathy

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Sexual Orientation: Straight

Birthday: January 28

Hair: She has long brown hair with highlights reaching her waist, neatly cut side bangs falling over her right eye. She usually ties her long hair into a pony tail or just let them down, your pick. Her side bangs are sometimes messy, but when she's in the mood she clips them up. Her hair is really straight, and soft. Her soft hair makes people want to touch it.

Height: 5 foot and seven inches tall :))

Eyes: She has deep blue eyes. Her eyes are special, because it changes color when her mood changes. When she's angry or mad, her eyes turn into a deep shade of red. When she's sad, they turn gray. When she's in love, her eyes turn into a wonderful color of pink. When she's happy, her eye color change into a lovely shade of honey. When she's shocked, her eyes turn light purple with a mixture of black. When she's scared, her eyes turn black with a yellow flash of lightning in the middle. When she's annoyed, her eyes gain webs inside. When she's disgusted, her eyes turn green. When she's embarrassed, her eyes turn scarlet. When she's sleepy, her eyes turn black with a white Z in the middle. When she's excited her eyes turn into a bright shade of yellow. When she feels betrayed, her eyes look like they're about to crack.

Skin: Soft porcelain skin.

Clothes: She wears a black unbuttoned sleeveless leather jacket that has its collar wide open, she doesn't wear anything under it other than a bandeau bra (any color). Shorts, any color that fits with the blazer, it must only reach above her knees. Brown soft boots reaching below her knees (Or black high heeled boots reaching her ankles). On her right hand is a black finger-less glove. Other than that, she also has this other outfit. She also wears this white off-shoulder shirt over a blank tank top and a black and gray checkered skirt. She wears white mid-thigh socks and black high heels. She still wears the fingerless glove.

Sleepwear: She wears pajamas or nightgowns. She usually wear them with the color of black, red and white.

Winter wear: For winter she wears any color of shirt inside, and on the outside she wears a white jacket with a furry hood. She wears brown furry boots and brown furry pants. For her hands she wears white soft gloves.

Swim wear: For swimming she wears two piece bathing suits, sometimes she wears bikinis but that depends, any color.

Hobbies: Drawing, reading, eating, playing the violin and fighting.

Personality: She's strict most of the time, but, take note, she's still kind. Though there is one problem, she's really cold. She has a cold look and she scares people away but once you get to know her, you'll admire her. She barely smiles, but that depends. Her cold look is partnered with an emotionless look, well sometimes. She can also help with your problems, if you approach her, that is. Cold or not, she just loves to fight. Note: She's very ticklish.

There was a history here, but I took it out cuz it a surprise!

Weapons/Magic: Control Magic, in where she can control things around her except humans (swords that left untouched, stone, rocks, trees, sand etc.). Her main magic is Ice Magic. she also lends some of her ice for whoever needs it. She also uses a magical dagger named Crimson Dagger that changes, like Poison dagger, sharp one, etc. Because her main magic is ice, whenever she's really mad, everything that she passes by, walls, the floor and some stuff, ice will slither over them. And because of that, she has gained the title of "The Ice Maiden"

Likes: Family, cats, daggers, reading, drawing, going on missions, playing the violin, eating ice cream or chocolate cake, watermelon shake, horror movies, Twilight, vampires, being blunt.

Dislikes: She also hates people who think they can beat her friends or her, monsters (that's why she kills them without a reason), the person who killed her parents and her aunt, people who don't care about love, those who don't appreciate music. Balloons (because when they pop, she gets scared. But, she never shows that to anyone so she tries to bear with the popping sound)

Fears: Blood and the dark.

Talents: Dancing, singing and drawing.

Strengths: Her friends and family (Even though they are dead, her family is her inspiration)

Weaknesses: Her main weakness is her past and she's scared of blood. She's also ticklish.

Habits: eating chocolate ice cream.

Stamp: On her right mid-arm, color red.

Other: She can control the weather, unintentionally. When she's mad, there's a storm. When she's sad, it's raining. When she's happy, it's sunny.

Name: Cyrus Mizuki

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Magic: Shadow-Make Magic

Description: 6'0 in height, he has light silver hair and golden colored eyes. His hair goes down to his shoulders and is tied with a black ribbon. He wears a simple white shirt under a black jacket and black gloves, gray baggy pants with black shoes.

Name: Rei… you know… he doesn't have a last name. Just Rei.

Age:18

Gender: Male

Magic: Earth Magic

Description: Shaggy brown hair, blue eyes, blue jeans, a green V-neck, black leather jacket, and black combat boots. His guild mark is on the side of his neck.

Name: Chalice Nakamura (Sorry if she had a different last name in the story, I forgot and didn't see anything when I looked back)

Age: Fourteen

Gender: Female

Magic: Water Magic

Description: Golden blonde hair, blue eyes, and tan-ish skin. Her guild mark is on the inside of her forearm. When she's excited, she tends to say things twice.

Name: Cadence Nakamura

Age: 20

Gender: Female

Magic: Sound Wave Manipulation

Description: Brown hair and blue eyes. Being the oldest, and most responsible of her family, she tends to watch out for them, seeing every stranger as an enemy until proven otherwise. Her stamp is in white on the right side of her stomach.

Name: Kyo Nakamura

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Magic: Imitate Magic (but mostly fights with knives)

Description: Golden blonde, shaggy hair and brown eyes. Unlike his older sister, Kyo easily trusts people and is usually very happy. He is hinted to be very scary when he's angry. His stamp is in black on his left shoulder blade. He usually wears a purple shirt, a leather bracelet, jeans, and sneakers.


	11. Baka

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail… yet…**

**Cana's P.O.V. **

In my dream, he was dead. My master, who took in my weak self and made me stronger, was lying in his back, lifeless eyes staring into the ceiling. They were widened in shock, and even though I knew it was all a dream, I felt a pang in my heart.

The girl was there, too. I don't know who she is, but I know she's Masters murderer. Her long dark cloak kept me from seeing anything. But her ragged breaths were hard enough for me to see her chest move, even through her cloak. And by the way the hair covering her face moved with her gasps, she was almost as far gone as my master.

Curious, I moved her hair back. It wasn't anyone I recognized. Well... Correction: she seemed familiar, but I didn't know her name. Her eyes, which I knew should have been easy to see through, we're hard and refusing me of my right to her memories. Memories are the window to the soul.

Yeah, well, she's pulled the shades.

She gasped one more time and struck out at me. To say I was surprised is an understatement. She was practically dead! _But_, I thought as I dodged a swing from her dagger, _so am I if I don't focus_.

Quickly, I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I was staring at the ceiling of my room. I pushed up in my bed, sweating. With my cards, seeing the future in my dreams wasn't odd, but I'd _never_ seen master's death before. And this girl... It's killing me that I can't remember her. I _know_ I know her, but... Who is she?

**Chalice P.O.V. **

_They're overreacting_. I thought as they paced around.

We were in Lucy's room at the mansion. I was sitting next to her on her bed. Lucy was bandaged and medicated, bruised, broken, and not waking up anytime soon. Erza sat in a chair next to my us, brooding. I don't know if she's angry about Lucy getting hurt, or her not being there to prevent it, but really, it doesn't matter, it doesn't change the overall effect.

Erza was _pissed_.

Gray and Natsu were fighting, but as I had warned them _not_ to break Lucy's room, they kept it limited to verbal insults. Rei was downstairs cooking dinner. I wasn't aware that he could cook, but, hey, who cares, as long as it's edible. I'm a teenager; I eat more than I breathe.

Sting and Rogue were asleep. They'd yelled themselves to sleep. I've never seen anyone fight the way they fought once we got here. I won't go all flashback on you, because most of the words they used would make your ears bleed.

They were quiet and straight faced the whole way home, with Sting carrying Lucy and Rogue supporting Natsu, who had injured himself being an idiot. The second we got here, they sent Erza upstairs with Lucy and battled it out until they couldn't move. Stings face was distorted with anger, and, though his face remained stoic, I knew Rogue was just as angry.

I hadn't realized they were like this until that moment. That was when we all realized that Lucy held them together. Without Lucy, there would be no Sting and Rogue. Of course, they were fine until she came along, but weren't we all? Now she's here and she's real and all we really know is that we can't lose her.

And there's no way we're losing her.

We're all thinking it. Lucy's hurt and were gonna be fighting each other for dibs on the guy that did the hurting.

Rogue won, by the way. Apparently, the rest of us didn't even qualify for the finals. It was always either Rogue or Sting that gets revenge for Lucy. The rest of us...

Well I guess we just don't count.

But, hey, I'm cool with it, so long as the guy dies. And if he doesn't, if Rogue dies instead, there's two whole fucking guilds ready to finish the job.

Either way, that bastard's going down.

**Erza P.O.V.**

She slept. And slept, and slept, and slept.

And I have no idea how to wake her up. My mind keeps flashing back to when we got to the house. Sting handed Lucy to me and I brought her upstairs, and I could hear the crashes of their fight downstairs.

And, apparently, so could Lucy.

Her eyes cracked open, and she mumbled something that even I couldn't make out. I cursed the ones downstairs for being so loud.

"Shit!" she groaned.

"Lucy?"

"Sorry. I'm sorry, don't... I'm sorry."

"Lucy? What are you talking about?" I asked her, getting more and more worried.

"Stay away. For now, stay away from the Dark Guild."

"What?!" I yelled, before looking around the room and lowering my voice. "After what they did to you, Lucy, you want us to stay away?"

"Yep." She said simply. She was struggling to stay awake, I could see it. She yawned. "They'll stay away for awhile, Erza, they got their point across. And they need time for all of their fighters to heal. We don't need to worry."

"Worry?" I asked, confused. "Lucy, what do you-"

"Where are they?"

The question interrupted my confusion. I looked down, but Lucy had fallen back to sleep. I looked to both sides of me, but didn't see anyone.

"Where are they?" The voice asked again. This time it sounded different. It sounded… deeper the first time. Both voices sounded young. I followed the voice, twisting behind me, but no one was there.

When I turned back around, I could feel my face twist in shock. Not a lot and not enough that someone who didn't know me could tell, but my eyes widened and my lips pressed together. Two children stood there, both about eight, with the same blonde hair, mossy green eyes, and pale skin. A boy and a girl.

"Where are they?" They asked, voices melding together in a way that disturbed me.

"Who are you?" I asked them.

"That's no fair!" The boy protested.

"We asked first!" The girl argued.

I glared at them, but they didn't waver. I took a deep breath and counted to ten. "Where is who?"

"Them!" They cheered together. "The rest of us! Where are they?"

Now I was confused. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The girl giggled. "You're stupid. Lucy's the blonde one, but she's smarter than you!" She yelled, pulling on her eyelid and sticking her tongue out.

"Mini." The boy said to his twin. "That's enough." He turned to me. "I'm Gemi, and this is Mini. The _spirits._" He said with a grin and a tone that said _duh, stupid._

"Wait, you mean Lucy's _celestial spirits_ Gemi and Mini? Aren't you supposed to be little dolls or something?"

The boy laughed, and his twin giggled quietly. "Yep, back when Lucy was just getting the hang of this whole thing. But when Lucy gets stronger, her spirits get stronger, and the stronger the spirits are, the more likely it is that they take on a human appearance. Loke and Virgo appeared human to begin with, because they're naturally strong spirits, whereas slightly weaker spirits, such as Cancer, Sagittarius, and us need to rely on our owners powers to become stronger. It isn't that we don't have any power, either, before you say something like that, it's just that we need out owners' help to shape our powers. Loke, Virgo, and Aries had their powers shaped out for them by their previous masters." He ended the explanation by sticking his tongue out at me. Again, he used the tone in which the _idiot_ at the end is implied. Still, I appreciated the explanation.

"So..." I said slowly, "why are you... out?"

"Lucy's hurt. We can come out on our own as long as her magical energy is at zero." they said together.

"It's at zero?"

"Yep!" The girl yelled. "She put up a good fight, but he still put her down. Lucy was really mad. She yelled out lottsa naughty words." she giggled.

Now I'm worried. This guy is that much better than Lucy? I was hoping he just got in a few lucky hits. I guess not. But, Lucy is pretty strong now. Maybe stronger than me.

How powerful is this guy?

**Natsu P.O.V.**

Erza came downstairs looking dazed, with two kids following after her. I looked at them for a few seconds, smelled Lucy's scent on them, and turned back to watching over Rei's shoulder as he cooked. He'd already made a meal for us, but since we all eat so much, there wasn't nearly enough. Maybe we should give him and extra ten percent out of the next mission reward.

Apparently, the others didn't smell Lucy on the twins, because Gray asked who they were.

"They are... Gemini." Erza said slowly, obviously still processing it herself.

"Who?" Gray asked.

"Lucy's celestial spirits Gemi and Mini." I murmured. Rei shivered, obviously not aware of how close I'd been to him. I smirked and backed up.

"Why do they not look like those little dog things?"

"Dog things?" Chalice asked him, swiveling in her seat. "In what world did those two look like dogs?"

"Well, what were they then?" Gray asked indignantly.

"Obviously they're... Well, they look like..." Chalice dropped her voice to a murmur as she ran through a list of animals. "Yeah... Let's stick with dogs."

Gray _humphed_ unhappily, crossing his arms and turning away. The twins giggled happily at the show.

Sting stirred from his spot on one of the couches, where he'd been sleeping after the fight. Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he shot up, but it wasn't at the twins he was staring. It was the stairs begin them, his eyes widened in a rare shock. He grabbed a pillow from the couch and flung it towards Rogue, sleeping on the couch across from him.

The pillow hit him in the face, and he was instantly up and awake. His eyebrows drew together for a moment, before following Stings gaze to the stairs. He sighed. "She's gone, isn't she?"

Sting nodded, seeming to relax with his suspicions confirmed. Everyone else perked up.

"Gone?" Chalice asked.

"Lucy?" Gray said.

Rogue nodded. "Her scent isn't here anymore." he seemed to notice the tension and worry in the room. "Ah, she does this." he assured them. "Whenever she gets hurt and sleeps for awhile, she runs away once she wakes up. I think she just doesn't like being shut in. She probably isn't far."

**Rogue's P.O.V.**

His words seemed to put the others at ease, but after an hour of waiting, and about forty-five minutes of searching, he was beginning to get worried.

They'd split up to look for her half an hour ago, and nobody had any idea where she was. Refusing to lose hope, Rogue climbed up to the top of a cliff overlooking Magnolia. He hadn't been here long, and had only been to visit once or twice before, but he still knew his way around.

As he scanned over the city, his eyes came to rest on one small place in particular. "No..." he muttered. Surely she wasn't _there_. But... He might as well _try_.

Ten minutes later, he was slowing from his run and nearing the site. He smiled when he saw her, sitting on a swing, gently swaying back and forth, eyes closed. His breathing slowed back to normal as he walked over and sat in the swing next to her. The corners of her lips tilted up as she heard him move.

"You've been gone for awhile, ya know?" he asked her.

She nodded silently.

"Nearly two hours." He continued.

"Yep."

Screw being subtle. "Damn it, Lucy! You scared all hell out of me!"

"Isn't that a good thing?" She asked.

He sighed, falling forward until his head hit her shoulder. "Don't do that to me." He groaned.

Lucy laughed and tilted her head to rest on his. "Sorry." She said simply.

He pulled his head from her shoulder. "Shut up." He growled.

She smirked and leaned forward fast, nearly pouncing on him and causing him to flinch away slightly to keep her from hitting his forehead with hers. "Don't be angry." she murmured quietly, before bringing her head the rest of the way and meeting his lips with hers. His eyes widened for a second, before the edges crinkled and he kissed her back.

Pulling back and smiling, Lucy grabbed his hand and pulled him up with her as she stood. "We need to get back now."

He nodded. "Yeah, because you're still hurt and everybody else is still out looking for you, you troublesome girl."

She smiled at him, the first big, happy, all out genuine smile he had seen from her in awhile.

Suddenly, he knew it would all work out.


	12. Cracked

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

Chalice P.O.V. 

'They're over reacting.' I thought. 'Again.'

The second Natsu, Gray, and Erza saw that Lucy was okay, they started yelling at her. How could she be so stupid? What if she'd gotten attacked? Yada yada yada. Lucy just held her hands up in surrender and laughed. The crazy girl.

Look at her, laughing in the face of danger.

Rogue and Lucy had been holding hands when they got back, and Sting grinning and slapping him on the back told us what had happened. No awkward explanations for Lucy. Not that it would be awkward for (her) per se; it would just be awkward for everyone else. That's Lucy.

So as Rei made (more) food, Sting harassed Rogue, and Natsu and Erza ranted, Gray took it upon himself to clean and re-bandage Lucy's wounds. I had asked Wendy why she couldn't just heal Lucy altogether, and she'd said something along the lines of "my magic will only heal her wounds until they aren't life threatening. I don't know why. Lucy will have to heal on her own." When we told Lucy, she just shrugged and kept moving around while Gray tried to disinfect a cut on her stomach.

You know, I think she might not be human, after all. It's almost like she doesn't feel pain at all. She just prances around, smiling happily and singing show tunes at the top of her lungs.

Okay, maybe not, but you get the point.

At some point, when I found myself watching the sun sink behind the trees through the window, Lucy came and rounded everyone up and herded us all into the living room. We all crowded around, Erza sitting in Grays lap, Gray frowning as Erza's armor pressed into his stomach, Natsu sitting on the ground in front of them, and everyone else piled up on the couch. Lucy stood in front of us, and she wasn't the tall and proud Lucy of Sabertooth that we knew, and it wasn't Lucy of Fairy Tail, doing everything with confidence even if she messes up. This is Lucy Heartfilia. Tall and proud but hesitant and tired because she has no other choice but to do what she needs to, not what she wants to.

She drew in a shuddering breath, let it out, and leaned back on hear heels.

"It's the man who gave me my powers."

Her voice, quiet but strong, rang across the room.

"... Say what?"

That would be Natsu. In his twenties and still hopelessly stupid.

Lucy apparently thought so, too. She rolled her eyes at him. "I suppose that's my fault for not being specific enough. The leader of Josho Oni, the man I fought, is the man that gave me my powers."

"Lucy…" Sting said, "This is big. Are you sure?"

I thought she might kill him. Because, come on, who would question Lucy like that? But she just nodded sadly.

"Positive."

Damn.

"But, Lucy, you're arguably the strongest of us all, and if you have the same power type…"

"Yeah," she agreed bitterly, "and to top it off, he's merciless, he's had his powers longer, and he knows me better than I know him."

Gray raised an eyebrow. "He knows you better?"

"You don't understand." Lucy's voice cracked. "His voice has a Magical Influence. You hear when he speaks, and… it doesn't matter what you want anymore. All that matters is what he wants and how he uses his magic to make sure you get it for him."

"So what you're saying is…"

"I talked." Lucy said, sighing. "I talked about everything. My magic, your magic, Fairy Law, Edolas, Zeref. He knows everything. At least, everything I knew. I stayed with that man for three weeks while he questioned me. One day he just up and left. His magic went with him. Needless to say, I didn't stick around to see if he was coming back."

"So…" My voice was weak, and it didn't come out the way I wanted it to. I tried again. "So, what do we do? What do you think…?"

"What do I think…?" Lucy mused. "I think it's time to call in some more mages. There aren't going to be any more play dates." She stood up and walked towards the door. "This is it. Get ready."

And I don't know if it was anticipation for the last battle or the finality her voice when she said it, but suddenly it seemed definite that we were reaching the end, and it isn't likely that we'll all make it out.

Third Person

Lucy was pissed. As she stormed down the street towards Fairy Tail, she couldn't stop the consecutive curses that flew through her mind and out her mouth. _Call in some more mages? Oh, sure, because we totally won't have a huge rivalry about which guild is better! _Oh, God. She's _such_ an _idiot!_

"Lucy!"

She didn't glance up when the guild members of Fairy Tail greeted her. Instead she stormed over to the bar and crashed, banging her head down on the counter as soon as she reached the seat.

Mira grinned down at her. "Something wrong, Lucy?"

Lucy just groaned in response, trying to figure out who would be safe to call in. She really needed all of them, but there's no way the pig headed _we're better than you_ Sabertooth mages would cooperate, no matter what the stakes were. She banged her head again for good measure; it was going to be a long day.

Meanwhile…

Catherine Ann Celestine was not happy. Cathy thought she was a fairly nice person, but she was not pleased that she was sent to check up on a stupid Sabertooth girl that didn't know who to trust. As she passed through the town market, she tried to avoid the stares of the townspeople. She'd been around for awhile now, but they still weren't used to her eyes, her stupid eyes that didn't allow her any secrets. She knew that by now her eyes must have spider webbed, and she didn't like it. It was really unfortunate that her hair only covered one eye; because if she could somehow miraculously see through her bangs without a hitch she would cut her hair instantly to cover them.

… Okay, no, she wouldn't. That would look so _stupid_. If only she knew where her sunglasses had ended up after that last fight between Natsu and Gray…

With a defeated sigh, Cathy pushed on through the crowd, keeping her head down. It didn't take much longer until she could hear the shouts from the giant house that was meant to be her destination.

"DUMBASS MIZUKI, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SO DAMN ANNOYING?"

This would be the obnoxiously loud voice of Sting Eucliffe, which proved only to strengthen her irritation and fuel her slowly growing headache.

She knocked on the door impatiently. She knew Cyrus Mizuki was just on the other side, as she could hear his muttered "I'm not, you're just stupid." through the door.

She didn't have time to bite at him, however, as just when he opened the door, her eyes, widened, turning a light purple, and a little black, and she fell forward, into a very familiar person.

_Anne Celestine didn't live a life of luxury, but, she thought as she made her way home from shopping at the market with her parents, she didn't much care, as she had people to love her and take care of her. That is, until about five minutes later when she was sitting, alone on the curbside, while soldiers cleaned the mess of blood, bone, and a broken carriage off the street. Anne didn't have many friends, as, at the young age of eight, she found she was far more intelligent than all the other children running around laughing mindlessly while their parents worked themselves to the bone to provide for their families. _

_Such intelligence did not fail her now, as she realized that the carriage that had just taken away her parents would most definitely not be bringing them back. A particularly young looking soldier made his way over to Anne and crouched in front of her. "Is there anyone you can live with, darling?" Yes, she thought, he must surely be young. For, over time, the care for civilians slowly dies away in the older soldiers as they carry out their orders like whipped dogs._

_Anne shook her head. She had an aunt, but Anne could take care of herself, and her aunt was a busy woman. The soldier frowned, but nodded and left, stopping to pat her head as he did so. She watched as the bodies of her parents were dragged away to a ditch farther down the road and burned along with the carriage pieces._

_The village smelled like burned flesh and death for days._

_Anne lived on her own for a few months, just long enough, she remembered, to turn nine years old, before her the aunt she had tried to stay away from found her stealing and took her in, despite the little girls protests. _

_Anne's aunt proved to be a very kind woman who owned a bakery and was sure that if bread went unsold shortly before it went stale, it would find a stomach to fill instead of waste. She smiled to everyone and was very kind to children. Unfortunately, Anne only got a few years with her aunt, before tragedy struck again, and, weeks before Anne's fourteenth birthday, an intruder broke in the bakery. A fire was started, and Anne's aunt was burned to death in the process of protecting her niece._

_The villagers didn't see this as a tragedy to Anne, however. They saw it as a curse._

"_Don't go near that girl, child. She'll surely bring death upon you."_

"_No good comes from being with her. Flee while you can."_

"_Stay away, witch! No evil shall pass here!"_

_A year passed of Anne's isolation, before a young man passing through town took an interest in her._

"_Oh, nonsense!" He said to all the superstitions and accusations. "All there is here is a little girl fate has not been kind to." He turned to her. "Come on, now." He held his hand out to her. "You'll be coming with me now."_

_Anne stared up at him through bangs that had grown far too long to be able to see through. She made out silver hair and golden eyes, but quickly looked away. Weighing her options, Anne supposed nothing worse than she had now could come out of going with him. Anything was better than this neglect._

_She took his hand._

_It had never occurred to her that the man had never given her his name. She had a roof over her head, food in her stomach, and clothes on her back. She didn't care for much else. They didn't make much conversation, because, despite her best efforts, it seems that the villagers silly superstitions and been embedded into her now. She was bad luck, if nothing else. And Anne did not take to being bad luck. She figured if she didn't care for the person she was with, they were safe. That failed, though, when she found herself missing his company when he was away. It was silly, to get attached to someone so quickly and easily after being alone for so long. She should've known better. _

_She came to care for him anyway._

_And then he didn't come home. He had promised her, just a four day trip. He would be back Monday. _

_It was Friday, now._

_That was the first day her eyes truly expressed what she felt. Her deep blue eyes seemed on the verge of cracking. Anne vowed only to live in his house for awhile longer, and on the day of January twenty-eighth, when she turned seventeen, she left. _

_The regret clung to her. She had killed her parents. She had killed her aunt. She had sent away the stranger that took her in for no good reason. She regretted not talking to him more. She regretted not laughing, or smiling._

_But Catherine Anne Celestine had never regretted anything more than not learning the name of the silver haired, golden eyed man._


End file.
